I finished my first track day yesterday and I had a blast. It was on the main track at
Summit Point in WV.
Since it was my first track day I was in the Beginner Group. It was a
NESBA track day so there were 3 groups. Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced.
The first two session were a bit slow for me but they were worthwhile. The control riders pointed out a few things I was doing wrong. One of my problems was with my feet placement. I wasn't keeping the balls of my feet on the pegs and I had my heels sticking out.
There were 2 lines at the start of a session. One line was a faster line and the other line was a slower line. Starting with the 3rd session of the day I got into the faster line. That was much better. The fast line of the beginner group was just about the right speed for me.
During the first two sessions the liter bikes were killing me. It was the classic problem of catching them in the curves and not being able to pass them in the straights. I would be right behind a liter bike coming out of a turn into a straight (coming out of turn 9 or 10 for instance), I would get just a bit in front and then their power would take over and they would pass me. Of course it doesn't help that I probably weigh 100 lbs more than most of the riders out there.
By the end of the day I was completly worn out. I was just beat. This morning when I got up, the muscles in my thighs were screamin'.
I think I'm going to have to lose a little weight and work out a bit before my next track day in July. I'm doing 2 days over a weekend in Aug at Barber. That's going to be rough.
I did the 'push the caliper pistons in' brake trick at the begining of the day. By the end of the day the brakes were back to very mushy and by the last session were starting the get a little bit scary. Especially on the long straight before turn 1. I would get up to about 138 mph (according to the speedometer) and the brakes just felt very blah. Total mileage for the day was about 140 miles or so. For my next track day I'll probably perform the stupid brake trick after each session. (if I haven't figured a real fix by then).
Here are some pics that my friend took:
Track Day Pics
[ This message was edited by: Kajota on 2006-06-17 16:08 ]
